Various types of automatic milking systems are known and employ a plurality of milking clusters each of which physically engages the udder of each cow being milked. In order to prevent the spread of disease in a herd milked by an automatic milking system, it is necessary to disinfect the milking cluster between milkings of each different cow.
Conventionally the disinfection is provided by backflushing the milking cluster utilizing a rinse solution which contains a disinfectant. The rinse solution is passed through the piping of the system and thus a relatively large amount of disinfectant is required.
A state of the art automatic milking system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,677 to Brown.